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Syrian opposition to Bashar al-Assad
 | Parts of this article (those related to governance, territorial control, military forces and recognition, to better reflect the state of the, now former, opposition in the latter stages of the war) need to be updated. (December 2024) |
The Syrian opposition was an umbrella term for the Syrian revolutionary organizations that opposed Bashar al-Assad's Ba'athist regime during the Syrian Revolution and Syrian civil war. The opposition factions in Syria became active as grassroots movements during the mass demonstrations against the Ba'athist regime. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) was the most prominent armed revolutionary group in the initial stages of the war; but it declined and became decentralized by 2015. By 2021, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had become the strongest armed faction within the Syrian opposition.
In July 2011, at the situation turned into a civil war, defectors from the Syrian Armed Forces formed the Free Syrian Army. In August 2011, dissident groups operating from abroad formed a coalition called the Syrian National Council. A broader organization, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), was formed in November 2012. Although the groups based abroad established contact with those in Syria, the Syrian opposition suffered during the whole conflict from infighting and a lack of unified leadership, as well as lack of foreign aid as the war became deadlocked.
In 2013, the Syrian National Coalition formed the Syrian Interim Government (SIG), which operated first as a government-in-exile and, from 2015, in certain zones of Syria. From 2016, the SIG was present in the Turkish-occupied zones, while the SNC operated from Istanbul. In 2017, the Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), unaffiliated to the SNC, formed the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) in the areas it controlled. Both opposition governments operated as quasi-states. Rebel armed forces during the civil war have included the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, affiliated to the SIG, the Syrian Liberation Front, the National Front for Liberation, the Southern Front, the Southern Operations Room, and the American-backed Syrian Free Army (previously known as the Revolutionary Commando Army). Other groups that challenged Bashar al-Assad's rule during the civil war were the Kurdish-dominated Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava) and the jihadist organization known as the Islamic State. The latter group is generally distinguished from the opposition, with whom it was in conflict.
On 27 November 2024 Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and a coalition of Syrian armed opposition groups launched 2024 Syrian opposition offensives which led to the fall of the Assad regime after 11 days of fighting. The HTS-led Syrian Salvation Government became the foundation for the Syrian transitional government.[1][2][3] During the Syrian Revolution Victory Conference, held in Damascus on 29 January 2025, the dissolution of several armed revolutionary factions and their merger into the newly overhauled Syrian military forces was officially announced. At the event, the Syrian transitional government appointed former HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa as president of Syria for the transitional phase.
- ^ "Ousted Syrian leader Assad flees to Moscow after fall of Damascus, Russian state media say". AP News. 8 December 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
- ^ jcookson (8 December 2024). "Experts react: Rebels have toppled the Assad regime. What's next for Syria, the Middle East, and the world?". Atlantic Council. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
- ^ "HTS, overthrown Syrian PM task Mohammed al-Bashir with forming transitional government". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 9 December 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
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